A Place to Belong
by Xx.LoveIsABlessing.xX
Summary: #81 in the 100 Themes challenge. Warning, this one came out a bit sad but with a really happy ending! Promise! I just really wanna get folks thinking on some things. Hope you like it, let me know if you do or don't!


**#81 : A Place to Belong**

His head hanging low, fetlock crusted with mud and briars as it hung down his thin face, the tiny shetland stood to the far back corner of his stall at the sale barn, his emaciated body covered with dried mud that hid his black fur. He held his left hind leg at a slight angle to relieve pressure on it and help ease the pain. There was a piece of baling string wrapped tightly around it, but no one had bothered to take it off.

The pony, seven years in age, had no name. He'd never had a real family, had never really known what it was like to be loved after being abandoned as a yearling in an empty field.

He'd been there at the sale for three weekends now, and no one had ever bought him. The first weekend, people would pause at the stall to look in at him and he would lift his head and try to hobble over to them. It was never more than a few seconds before they would shake their head and move on. After about four times of this, the small pony had given up and now stood dejectedly in the stall, not even bothering to look up when people would stop at the stall door.

Why should he care? They weren't going to want him, anyway.

All too soon it was time for the auction to start and he was lead, painfully on his part, into the sale ring for a third time. He didn't try to look cute or sweet, as he had the first two times he'd been there. Now he just stood there and kept his head down. He had no reason to look up.

"Alright, I know he looks a little rough around the edges but folks this little guy could turn out to be a great children's pony. Can I get a hundred dollars for this cute little furball?" The auctioneer started.

No one bid.

"Fifty dollars, who here will pay fifty dollars for this adorable little guy?"

Again, no one bid.

"Ten dollars?"

The little pony knew he'd be lead back to his stall soon and started turning to go out.

"Five dollars."

The called out bid had the small shetland coming up short and turning his head to try and see who had bid on him.

"Sold!" The gavel came down and he was barely able to get a glimpse of a young man and woman standing at the auction ring fence, a pair of emerald green and stormey grey eyes glued to his small figure, before he was made to walk forward and leave the ring.

As he reached his stall again, the shock finally wore off and elation ran through his small body. Someone had bid on him! He was getting a new home!

If he'd been physically able, he would have bucked and reared with joy, but with his little energy he managed to do a slow little turn and settled on that as his show of joy. He wasn't sure how long he'd have to wait before he would get to go to his new home; he knew he'd been the last horse to enter the ring but after him there was still cattle to be auctioned off, so he stood by the door to the stall, no longer his stall, and waited to see the young man and woman.

It seemed like hours went by before he saw them coming swiftly towards the stall. He whinnied to them as best he could and looked up with what he hoped was the cutest expression he'd ever given.

"You poor baby, look at you." The young woman whispered as she leaned over to scratch his thin neck gently. He sighed at the first affectionate human contact he could ever remember having in his life.

"I'm going to get the trailer, see if you can find out why he was limping so badly in the ring." The young man said and the little pony's heart raced at the mention of a trailer. He was going now! He was going home, finally!

The gate to the stall opened and he stepped back politely as the young woman entered and stood beside him. He immediately nuzzled her leg and breathed in her scent, standing perfectly still as she looked closely at his left hind leg, soon discovering the string in his thin fur.

"How long have you had that?" She whispered to him soothingly as she examined the string. She looked up as the young man came back to the stall.

"The trailer's ready to go." He said as he entered the stall carefully, smiling as the pony eagerly nuzzed him aswell and nickered to him softly.

"Ty there's string wrapped around his leg here. Do you thing you could cut it off?" She asked the young man and he nodded, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small pocket knife. She went to the pony's head to distract him as the young man, Ty, cut the string carefully away from his leg.

Feeling the pressure leaving, the pony carefully let his leg back down, gratitude like he'd never felt before causing him to turn and nuzzle Ty's shoulder from where he knelt beside him.

Ty smiled and scratched his forehead gently, "Alright little man, let's get you in the trailer and back to Heartland."

The pony eagerly followed Ty and the young woman, whom he heard Ty call 'Amy', out of the stall and towards an older model white horse trailer. His back leg still hurt a bit to walk on because it was swollen but he didn't care as he hobbled as quickly as he could to the trailer.

"Easy, easy. Don't hurt yourself any worse." Amy whispered to him soothingly as she pulled gently on his old halter to slow him. He slowed but stared at the trailer with longing as every step drew him closer to it. Once he was close enough to get in, he did so with an excited snort.

**~#81~**

Heartland was an amazing place, as far as the pony was concerned. As soon as he'd arrived, he'd been carefully bathed and groomed, washing away all the muck and grime and showing his thin black coat and emaciated frame. Then he'd been put into a well cushioned stall, which he'd immediately laid down and rolled in from joy. He'd been fed a little bit of grain and given a full haynet to munch on. The water bucket was clean and Ty had added something called 'Rescue Remedy' to it.

Now, he was ignoring his feed all together and standing at the door to his new stall, staring up adoringly at Amy and Ty as they discussed a name for him

He was going to finally have a name! He was trembling he was so excited.

"He's black, he's the sweetest little guy I've ever met, and he's absolutely tiny, even for a shetland." Amy was saying as Ty reached into the stall and rubbed the little pony's neck.

"Well, we could call him Onix? Like the black gem stone." Ty suggested and the little pony's ears pricked forward.

Onix? He liked that!

"Or maybe Ebony? He's really dark it looks like." Amy replied and the pony lifted his head a little higher.

Ebony? He liked that one too!

"Name him Midnight!" Came the call of a small child and the pony's ears flew up curiously as Ty and Amy turned to grin at someone he couldn't see.

"Why Midnight, Holly?" Ty asked and bent down, coming back up with a tiny blonde haired young girl in his arms. She eagerly looked into the stall at the small pony and he stared right back at her.

"Because of how dark he is." She said and leaned over to reach the pony's muzzle, grinned when he breathed on her palm.

"What do you think, Ty? That seems like a good name, don't you think?" Amy said with a grin.

"Please Uncle Ty?" The four year old girl asked and pulled the best puppy dog eyes she could at Ty, making him grin.

"Well, I guess it'll work. He is pretty dark." Ty said teasingly and Holly threw her arms around his neck with a cry of joy.

"I gotta go tell Mommy I named the new pony!" Holly said excited and wiggled to be put down, running away as soon as her little boots touched the ground.

"Well, little guy, looks like your name is going to be Midnight." Ty said as he reached down to let the shetland sniff his fingers.

A horse whinnied from somewhere else in the barn and Ty and Amy looked towards the sound.

"We better get started with the evening feeds. Spindle looks ready to bust his door down." Amy said with a sigh and gave Midnight one last scratch before heading to the feed room.

Ty lingered a second longer, feeling the pony's desperation to be loved and have a home. He smiled and put his hand on Midnight's cheek, rubbing over the fur with his thumb, "You're home now, Midnight. Welcome to Heartland, you'll have to meet the rest of your new family when you're feeling up to it."

With a final pat on the neck he went to help Amy and little Midnight stood where he was, the joy and gratitude in his small body making him feel like he could fly.

He finally had a home, he had a family. He had a name!

Midnight returned to his haynet and listened to the sounds around him, from the other horses in the barn, one of which he could see peering at him from the stall beside his own, to the sounds of Ty and Amy as they mixed the feeds and made up haynets for the other horses.

Heartland was his home now, and he finally had a place where he belonged.


End file.
